SpamGourmet (free) has some interesting innovations, but it also has limitations on how many messages each address will be able to accept. There are two modes, No-brainer and Advanced. In the former, you get a user name and then you can give out self-destructing addresses in the form whatever.n.username@spamgourmet.com, where whatever is some word you choose and is the number of messages (up to 20) that you can receive at that address until it self-destructsafter which messages will return errors.

For example, crazylegs.4.larryseltzer@spamgourmet.com will be able to receive four messages, and then senders will get error messages. The problem is, anyone can send you a message using a disposable account that you did not create: for example, IAMSPAM.20.larryseltzer@spamgourmet.com.

There are advanced options to limit the number of possible disposable addresses, but if this product became widely used it would be easy for spamsters to work around the limits. Advanced mode has several other features, the most interesting being that you can also add trusted senderspeople who can send messages without contributing to the maximum message count for that address. This will let you use a disposable address forever for legitimate purposesuntil it gets used by a spammer, at which point it'll pass away.

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About the Author

Larry Seltzer has been writing software for and English about computers ever sincemuch to his own amazementhe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983.
He was one of the authors of NPL and NPL-R, fourth-generation languages for microcomputers by the now-defunct DeskTop Software Corporation. (Larry is sad to find See Full Bio

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